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Posts: 480
Location: NW WI | Yesterday I went chasing bass in the slop with the kayak. Slop wasn't producing so I moved out of the weed basin and into the lakes drainage channel that connects with a slow river system. Ultra clear water and Channels about 40yds wide by 7' deepest. Sand bottom, pads and eel grass on the hardwood bank side, clean bottom in the middle, algae covered milfoil vegetation shelf on the other side. Went down it throwing parallel mostly with weighted large rubber swimbaits. Only action was 1 maybe 26"pike that came out of the milfoil and ate my micro dusa. Got into the river and spent some time in there with no luck. By now wind has changed, rain finally stopped, and sun is poking out time to time. Assuming this weather change may have caused a behavior change I started revisiting baits and techniques that weren't the recipe earlier.
So say, maybe 1hr has passed and a change to a bladed jig burned in shallow weeds and yo yoed deeper had got me 4 hammer handles in 20min. So I just stuck with it as I retraced my path back up the channel. Except now I used the milfoil as an anchor so I'd be parallel casting that weed edge and perpendicular fan casting to the other side and yo yoing back.
Now I'm getting annihilated by those painful ankle biting flies, and on one perpendicular cast I got the bait a little less than halfway back and had to stop to swat at em and have a small spaztick tantrum swatting all over at the little b-words.
So my bladed jig has been sitting on bottom for maybe 6 seconds, unscented paddle tail trailer, not enough current there to cause skirt or trailer to move. And all of sudden in my rod in weak hand, there's something on, it grabbed the jig and took off with haste. So I set hard against it and instantly knew it was big and powerful. Since the trailer is texposed on a 5/0 EWG hook I quickly double set the hook just to make sure. And whatever it was it took off straight upstream really darn powerful and fast and didn't come up in depth or headshake or turn course. My drag already locked out instantly was peeling and my Kayak and I started going for a quick ride. Than poof gone, bait came unhooked somehow. In that exact setup, rod,reel,un anchored kayak, the only fish I can say came close to that power was 42" I caught on the same setup, but whatever this fish was it had waaaaaay more energy and power.
Just wondering what your thoughts are. I don't think it was a pike. And I guess I don't know if a large musky would pick up that presentation just sitting still on bottom even if it did follow it for awhile first, but I guess they do love crawdads so maybe. Juggernaut of a smallmouth is possible, large bowfin or channel catfish is possible, carp are abundant and sturgeon are rare (thinking odd foul hook?). Just the hitting the bait off the bottom with speed or grabbing it running and than after it feels a hook and being pulled it clean B-line sprints straight like a sturgeon, idk, that part has me curious. |
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Posts: 112
| Muskies will eat off the bottom- but given what you described, my most likely guess would be a foul hooked carp (or possibly sturgeon) |
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| Before and after turnover yes. In the summer months ? I'ved poked around when nothing else is working. |
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Posts: 359
Location: SW Ohio | I will say yes, they eat off he bottom a lot. Most of the fish I catch on our lake is by dragging small crankbaits thru the soft bottoms or rocks/gravel (8' or less). I'm not saying reel until it hits then let it rise. I crank them down and run them bouncing and deflecting off the rocks or making tracks thru the mud (watching the methane bubbles come up as I do). This is a hard summer pattern that has worked for quite a few years. The fish relate the bottom in the summer months due to lake stratifying. This year the lake's thermocline is much deeper than past years but fish still show up in predictable places. |
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Posts: 1202
Location: E. Tenn | I've had a couple pick up a bucktail laying on the bottom, while I picked out a backlash.. I have some standup jigs, I might throw on some upcoming outings.
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Posts: 2228
Location: SE, WI. | All fish are bottom feeders at one time frame or another. Yes, muskies feed off bottom. They eat rustie crayfish, bullheads, suckers, carp, frogs, salamanders, burbot and ya other fish tight too bottom. One of the reasons I pour cork in my creatures, paddle tails. Several guys dead stick these in the fall when water temps get below 40. With a standup head, or pyramid jig, they’ll stand 5-10” off bottom. JD
Edited by jdsplasher 8/7/2022 11:53 PM
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Posts: 76
| Are there or have there been sturgeon in the system? |
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Posts: 1184
| I know guys who have caught Muskies and when they are unhooking them the Muskies are puking up Crawdads! |
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| Years ago, Babe Winkelman aired a show where he was fishing big pike in northern Ontario. One segment, they were sight fishing pike on a flat, with very clear water. He was not having any luck with blades so he put on an infamous Banjo Minnow, and tossed it out close to the boat. Let in sink, lift is slightly which caused the sediment to be disturbed, then just drop it back to the bottom and let it sit. Big pike were slurping it up, right off the bottom, despite it just sitting there. He and whoever he was fishing with were having a ball but kept shaking their heads in amazement. Don't know if muskie would do the same but many of these pike were over 40". The minnows were white and really stood out against the bottom. |
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Posts: 331
Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin | I have caught a few muskies that have followed in and after not getting them to go on figure 8, dropped bucktail to the bottom. Muskies nosed down almost vertical staring at bucktail on bottom, then have had a few flare their gills and suck the bucktail right off the bottom.
So yes, they do! |
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Posts: 2228
Location: SE, WI. | North of 8 - 8/8/2022 12:02 PM Years ago, Babe Winkelman aired a show where he was fishing big pike in northern Ontario. One segment, they were sight fishing pike on a flat, with very clear water. He was not having any luck with blades so he put on an infamous Banjo Minnow, and tossed it out close to the boat. Let in sink, lift is slightly which caused the sediment to be disturbed, then just drop it back to the bottom and let it sit. Big pike were slurping it up, right off the bottom, despite it just sitting there. He and whoever he was fishing with were having a ball but kept shaking their heads in amazement. Don't know if muskie would do the same but many of these pike were over 40". The minnows were white and really stood out against the bottom. Yep, remember that segment. When ice starts going out in the spring, and suns rays start penetrating that shallow ice, the frogs start to emerge from their hibernation. Pike, walleye, and skis, are rooting in that mud slurping up some yummy frog legs. Very common place on most bodies of water. One of the first baits I start with in spring, is my Creature Frog…. JD
Edited by jdsplasher 8/8/2022 4:15 PM
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Location: NW WI | R/T- Unofficially yes there is, rare though.
I've read about em foraging craws and emerging frogs/lizards. But those also have a natural movement and/or scent to em. You Jig guys makes sense cuz your still imparting action in the presentation. But this is super interesting that some of you have had bucktails slurped up from the bottom. You recall if they were reflective blades or flashbou? I should also note that when night fishing topwater in key spots i started doing 3 ovals boatside and than leave it sit and count to 15. Been hit multiple times by doin this,Never explosive hits,never hooked up,no clue on the species, but i guess maybe playing dead can be a trigger?On this subject also, anybody ever hear of accidental catches when chasing catfish? Up by me one of our easiest muskie spots is right below a dam and it gets hammered by sturgeon and cat guys, but I don't recall hearing any tales of accidental catches on cut bait/whole dead bait fish/leeches/ or crawlers. It's gotta happen, I've just never heard of it.
Edited by 7.62xJay 8/8/2022 10:28 PM
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Location: SE, WI. | 7.62xJay - 8/8/2022 10:23 PM R/T- Unofficially yes there is, rare though. I've read about em foraging craws and emerging frogs/lizards. But those also have a natural movement and/or scent to em. You Jig guys makes sense cuz your still imparting action in the presentation. But this is super interesting that some of you have had bucktails slurped up from the bottom. You recall if they were reflective blades or flashbou? I should also note that when night fishing topwater in key spots i started doing 3 ovals boatside and than leave it sit and count to 15. Been hit multiple times by doin this,Never explosive hits,never hooked up,no clue on the species, but i guess maybe playing dead can be a trigger?On this subject also, anybody ever hear of accidental catches when chasing catfish? Up by me one of our easiest muskie spots is right below a dam and it gets hammered by sturgeon and cat guys, but I don't recall hearing any tales of accidental catches on cut bait/whole dead bait fish/leeches/ or crawlers. It's gotta happen, I've just never heard of it. Back in the early 70’s, and 80’s, musky Bill, a legend in SE WI., used to fish dead Suckers on bottom off his own piers with good results. Depth in that area was only 3-5 ft. So Yes, dead suckers on bottom works! JD |
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Posts: 536
Location: deephaven mn | walleyes guys draging live bait rigs catch em. bass guys with jig and platics catch em. muskie guys letting their medussa sink to bottom catchem |
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Posts: 1184
| I think we all seen the old IN Fisherman Fly Fishing For Pike video from back in the day. |
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| My guess is foul hooked carp. Had that happen a few times in the past. |
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Location: E. Tenn | I lived in NW IN in the late '70s-early '80s...I t seems as if both species preferred a dead bait on the bottom v. something swimming under a bobber. I guess it took a lot less effort to hit the buffet, than walk into a Burger King |
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Posts: 46
| Echoing North of 8's post, big pike can definitely be bottom oriented in the spring, and I don't think its a stretch to assume muskies may be the same certain times of year, or in certain moods or under certain conditions. Late in the season I think it goes without saying "bottom" presentations can work, and bouncing crankbaits off rock bottom also comes to mind. |
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Location: PA Angler | I ve caught some Muskie with using crayfish on the bottom so I would think that’s how they learned to hunt so they will eat other stuff from the bottom. As for what you had on never know but hearing it didn’t come to the surface and stayed down deep my guess would be a catfish. |
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Posts: 309
Location: Selkirk, Manitoba | Working a spot where we saw a real big one when I snagged my pounder on shallow rock shelf. Wouldn't budge so I let my partner fish out the spot before trying to retrieve it. A couple minutes later we came up over it (clearish water, about 4 ft deep) and of course the big one we were after was head down and working the bulldawg over. It managed to get it off the rock, but no hooks in mouth - as I tried working it to net but it shook loose and slowly swam away, not shy of boat at all. A cool sight and needless to say that spot is always given a go at least once a day when in that area - has yielded a few fish but not one of that caliber for us (yet). |
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Posts: 205
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota | Musky absolutely eat off of the bottom, just ask the bass fisherman that catch them on jigs all of the time. I know that in some of our MN lakes that musky are regularly eating rusty crayfish with how big those things get. Same thing with a sucker, a sucker is almost always on the bottom |
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Posts: 1184
| My grandpa caught a couple Muskies did not really fish for them for the most part. One thing he liked to do was to cast a Mepps #4 Angola Long (black/silver) or a small Kush Spoon (orange/black) along a weed edge let it go down to the bottom and reel it slow on the bottom at the base of the weed edge. He would catch Northerns or smaller Muskies. |
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Posts: 267
Location: Central Pennsylvania | Yes! I have caught probably 7 or 8 tigers on deadbait (two being chunk sucker and the rest being on dead creek chubs.) I fish them weightless in the river´s stillwater sections on a typical sucker rod sometimes only using a single treble hook because my bait isn´t usually over 7¨. As for catching fish on jigs, yes, they will eat em. Everyone I know in my area that keeps tigers says they are full of crawdads but I´m not really sure how to imitate the crawdads that are no bigger than 4.5¨ |
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Posts: 375
| I think we see the answer as yes. I have had numerous muskies on in the fall fishing for walleyes. In almost all cases it has been fishing a hair jig and a minnow. I am usually on 12 to 15 ft weed edges. Have landed a few when they are hooked in the corner of their mouth. |
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